Having been interested in cattle since
boyhood, my earliest adult cattle purchased
were 3 full blood Simmental heifers that I
obtained from Embrey Hills Farms. I
continued looking for outstanding bloodlines
which resulted in the purchase of
Centerfold, whose sire was the well-known
Signal. Her bull calf, Top Gun, was an
outstanding sire. His semen was exported to
several countries including the Dominican
Republic and Panama. We still have his semen
stored in Canada. Continuing this search for
excellence, around 1986 I purchased Milton
Martin, Jr.’s entire full blood herd, about
15 cows/calves.
My interest was really piqued around 2006
when I purchased my first full blood
Fleckvieh bull, Isaac, who did an
outstanding job of producing easy calving
females for our herd.
I later purchased 10 superb full blood
females from Dumont Gouge of Kentucky. These
animals’ genetics represented South Africa
and Canada.
One great characteristic of the full blood
breeders is their desire to help each other.
This was illustrated when Larry Maxey told
me about a fine bull that had to be sold or
he would go to the sale barn. We were able
to buy the bull, Hayger, who became our #1
herd bull! We benefitted from his offspring
in many ways – great heifers and strong
bulls! Hayger was also the Senior Grand
Champion bull in 2010 at the North American
International Livestock Expo (NAILE).
To further interest in the cattle business,
we encourage young people to show our cattle
at shows. Since I understand how costly it
is for many youth to purchase and show
cattle today, we have developed a program
that assists interested youngsters to do
just that. The youngster chooses their calf
and agrees to show it at our predetermined
events. After the season ends, the heifer is
returned to us for breeding. When the new
calf is born, we keep the calf and the
heifer (cow) goes back to the youngster who
by now is quite attached to it!! We have
seen many young people develop a sense of
responsibility and a purpose in life through
this involvement.